League doesn’t immediately reinstate lockout

Posted by Mike Florio on April 29, 2011, 8:37 PM EDT

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Though the headline at the top of the league’s official website proclaims that the “lockout [is] back in force” after the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted the league’s motion for a temporary stay of the decision ending the work stoppage, the league has not yet re-slammed the door.

“Our attorneys will review the decision and we will advise all clubs as soon as possible on next steps,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tells PFT via e-mail.

Of course, it could be that the league has decided not to mention the “L” word while the draft is still occurring. And there’s no pressing reason to re-start the lockout over the weekend, since activity will be minimal.

Still, any team that hasn’t distributed playbooks to its players should be taking full advantage of the fact that the lockout has not officially recommenced. Yet.

it’s funny how people were on here saying the Players are winning blah blah the last few days over that one ruling…

The entire Owner strategy is to force lower % labor costs and so far:
– the union is gone
– the Players shammed and will pay for that
– the Players have been forced back to the table
– the lockout will soon continue
– the Players circumvention of labor law will come home to roost

The Players and their representation are completely outclassed and regardless of the rulings on these cases, they will take a significant pay cut.

As a supporter of the owners’ position, I think it would be entirely appropriate for them to do nothing further until the 8th Circuit’s ruling next week on whether to stay Judge Nelson’s order until the appeal is decided.

Being that the league is going to impose the lockout, are they allowed to sell player jerseys. Are they allowed to promoted the players likeness on anything with an nfl logo? I’m asking because the players and fans make the league not the owners or corporate america. If the players don’t play and the fans don’t buy then you have nothing.

lmao i am gonna take a shot in the dark and say that you guys on the owners side are republicans…and no i do not really have a political ideology especially in this situation because this is not about that you were probably the ones complaining about the lockout and now you support a round of applause for you more than likely non football fans

I think for the last 20 years the NFL has been at the mercy of a super liberal Minnesota court and has never gotten a fair shake, let alone a consideration. Even if you think this ruling is activism on the republican side, it is still miles short of the liberal activism that the MN district court has been hammering on the NFL for years.

I for one am happy to see finally a ruling in favor of the NFL. I think the NFLPA has way overplayed their nuclear card here and we will start to see the pendulum move back.

The real stupidity of this path the players have taken is there is no win for them. If they succeed and get 32 separate businesses they will lose (except for a handfull of premium players). If the owners win, the players will ahve to take whatever cba the owners offer. I shake my head at why the player blindly followed Debag smith down this road. There is no way out now.

Like many fans, I have refused to watch the draft as long as the re-lockout is pending. The 1st round viewship was down 22%. Friday is probably even worse. If the lockout is again announced, the NFL is history for my family. We have cancelled Sunday ticket, and signed up for the MLB package. We will be watching MLB playoffs in Oct instead of NFL football.

“If the players don’t play and the fans don’t buy then you have nothing.”

And if the owners had not risked their money, their careers, their creativity and spent their lives building these teams and this league over the decades, then there would be no teams, no league, no players and no fans.

You could see the 8th Circuit decision coming a mile away. The league hired David Boies because he is the top appellate lawyer in the country. They knew they would lose before a left wing, union loving Obama appointee from a state that elected a rodeo clown like Al Franken to the US Senate. Now it will be apparent to the players that they can’t win thru litigation and the only way to resolve this impasse is at the bargaining table. Both sides now have an incentive to get a deal done and I think it will be done in time to have a full season in 2011.

Rhode island pat fan is right the nfl will look like they care about no one the fans or players if they decide that the lockout goes back in to effect right away. Thats why if their smart they wont reinstate the lockout instead say keep acting like you are move on with offseason practice and everything. do the whole offseason thing and basically tell the nflpa trade association come back to the table and work with us or we take lockout into full effect.